The present invention relates to an improvement in separably connecting a rocket booster to a space vehicle core and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a thrust system for quickly disconnecting and jettisoning a rocket booster from a space vehicle core.
In connection with the launch of a space vehicle and its associated payload into space it is necessary to expend a significant amount of energy. In order to achieve this energy it is common to associate one or more boosters with the main core launch vehicle. These boosters are commonly solid or liquid fuel rocket boosters that are separably arranged around the aft end of the core space vehicle. After lift off the energy of the rocket boosters is expended until all of the booster rocket fuel has been used. The usefulness of the rocket boosters has then ended and it is necessary of separate the boosters from the core vehicle as expeditiously as possible to avoid any drag from the now useless boosters.
The present practice for disengaging a rocket booster from the core launch vehicle and jettisoning the booster from the core vehicle contemplates powering the disengagement and jettisoning functions by separate energy sources. Commonly, the structural joints connecting the rocket boosters to the core vehicle are severed by pyrotechnic means. Once severed from the core vehicle the boosters are then jettisoned from the immediate vicinity of the core vehicle by suitable thrusters to preclude any incidental undesired contact between the boosters and the core vehicle.